Join the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) and the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) to Stamp Out Hunger on May 11 at the 32nd annual NACL Stamp Out Hunger food drive. The annual event is held on the second Saturday of May and traditionally falls just before Mother’s Day.

Leave your non-perishable food donations outside your door before 9 a.m. on Saturday, and your local postal carrier will pick them up on their regular mail delivery route. All of the food collected in Arlington will be donated to AFAC, an independent community-based non-profit organization established 35 years ago.  

In the April monthly newsletter, CEO Charles Meng says last year AFAC served 140,835 families, 30 percent more than in 2022. As of March 1, 2024 AFAC had already served 135,376 families, 25 percent more than last year. “If we continue at this rate, sometime during the week of June 2 AFAC will have served two million family visits throughout the 35 years since it was established.” AFAC had served 3,781 families the week of mid-April.

AFAC receives about 40 percent of the groceries it distributes through food donations such as those received during the Stamp Out Hunger Drive, and the other 60 percent is purchased on the wholesale market, mostly from funding received from donors. 

“AFAC receives no Federal or state funding and only a small percent of our $4.6 million budget from Arlington County,” Meng explains. He says these county funds were depleted on Oct. 3, 2023 which is three days after the first quarter of the new year, and at the current rate of client visits and rising cost of food AFAC will be faced with raising roughly one million dollars over the annual budget to cover the anticipated costs for this year.

AFAC’s most requested items are: low-sodium tuna, canned beans, canned soup and tomato products (including diced, paste and sauce) and low sugar cereal.  Each family in need receives supplemental groceries including milk, eggs, fresh protein and fresh produce as well as a choice of non-perishable items. The goal is to collect 15,000 pounds of food during the food drive for AFAC’s families.

AFAC also has food collection boxes scattered across the county in businesses, faith-based organizations and the Central Library for collection of donations year round. For more information: afac.org.